Cove Playground (Kimball-Haskell)

In the previous post, I had mentioned several playground updates. Let's start with the most exciting: Cove Playground, sometimes call Kimball-Haskell, located in Beverly.

Here's the playground before renovation.



And here's the new playground. This is just about at the same angle. AND, this photo is only highlighting the 5-12 year old set up. They have another toddler set up as well as you can see below with the cool ladybug spring rider.


This is a shot from the opposite side of the playground.

Some people would find this upgrade a disappointment as the classic, unique, wooden structure with real tires are on the verge of safety extinction. They would be right of course, but this upgrade is such a drastic change it really does make it better. Cove Playground is used by the Beverly Park and Rec as a summer play program destination. Now the kids at the program will have much more fun and have shade as the previous structure had none! In addition, those counselor's jobs will be much more exciting as now the campers are going to be EVERYWHERE as the playground just quadrupled in size!

The structure is essentially built by Little Tykes (Little Tykes and Miracle Recreation are now owned by the same company, PowerPlay) and has their Infinity Loop component as seen in the upper photo on the left side. My 11-year old (WHAT?! HE'S ELEVEN?) really enjoyed this as it is a new design.

With all the new equipment, quadruple the previous playground, some shade, and new wood chips, the playground has moved up from a two-star playground to a FOUR-STAR!


Although sad to see another classic playground disappear no matter how much it needed maintenance, luckily North Shore photographer Tracy Milkay has captured the old Cove Playground in her book, Child's Play: Vanishing Vintage Playgrounds.

You can see and order her book here.

There are some great photos of vintage equipment and structures in this beautiful book.

Forest River

So a friend of my wife called to ask for donations to fund the new Forest River Park playground. She says that they are hoping to build a new playground next summer, 2009. Here's what it currently looks like, and I don't think it's that bad either.

Well, I better put that in here shouldn't I? I'll put up more information about it as I get it.

Bessie Baker Park

A long time ago, Lauren commented that Landscape Structure's newest 2008 playground setup, called the EVO, could be seen at Bessie Baker Playground in Beverly, located off Colon St. which is off Route 1A, Cabot St.

She was RIGHT!!

A full view of the partial EVO playstructure.

A rear view of the structure. Are those bunny ears in the right hand corner?

Bessie Baker had redone their playground and replaced their old wooden playground with the EVO, or part of it. It is a very fun looking playground and it is the new thinking in playground design, exploratory play. The idea is that there is not ONE way to play on the structure but many exploratory ways.

The draw back is safety. Children can climb ALL OVER this thing including on top and over the bars. BUT, I think this is GREAT!!! I have mentioned it before and posted links to articles discussing the unidirectional play that current structures provide and it is boring. It looks like some playground equipment companies are rethinking design. HURRAY!!

With that said, I am sad to report that it was not ALL that fun. Some extraneous stuff that make the structure LOOK cool but does not have a lot of play value. The web netting was fun and the "stand and spin" was fast enough to get me nauseous in just 4 revolutions. The middle section has some plastic, hanging, crawl throughs (think hanging tires in older playgrounds), which look cool and are moderately fun.

Than there were these completely useless hand-peddle things. You sat at it and use your hands to peddle. But all the peddling does nothing. You don't spin, move up or down, swivel or anything. Nothing happens. You just peddle. Very Zen, but not that fun.

My oldest son rated this playground three stars. I had to agree. If you're close by, definitely stop by and see the cool structure and have a new play experience. But don't be expected to be over WOWed.

Salem Common Update

First, I have been trying to get that image for the new design of the Salem Common playground and I have not been very successful. But now it seems, the image is moot.

I was at the common today and I was speaking with my neighbor down the street (I actually just met her . . . kind of sad really that she lived down the street and I have never met her until today) who was at the Parents United of Salem (P.U.S. . . unfortunate acronym) picnic, said that the Salem Common Neighborhood Historical Society suddenly decided to get involved and did not approve of the designs of the new playground. 

They wanted a Maritime theme or something and felt the green modular system was not appropriate. I think they have to start from scratch again. eeeeuuu

West Newbury, Action Cove

Here's the writeup for this magnificent five star playground located on Bachelor St. between Meetinghouse Hill Rd. and Middle St. in West Newbury. Action Cove is now up in the top FIVE of playgrounds in the North Shore. Similar to Eagle Nest in Essex, but even better with even more platforms, under-floor crawl spaces, and nooks.

Download the PDF at my web site:

www.visualvoices.net/publications/update.html

The photo is of course in color as is all the photos in the newly done addendums I have been posting.

Enjoy!

Salem's Mary Jane Lee

Okay, I have finally finished all the edits for the known missing playgrounds for Salem. Just Mary Jane Lee Playground located on the corners of Prince St. and Palmer St. in the Point Neighborhood.

Download the PDF of the writeup at my website:

www.visualvoices.net/publications/update.html

The playground photos are in color in all of my addendums now, so you get a great visual.

Maps

Well, here's something I am not proud of doing but I think I have to, especially because my editor told me to - that's my wife.

So on the addendums I have been working on, I have been updating the maps to reflect the addition of the missing playground. You know, putting it on the map and adding the streets, etc. Of course, as in the original maps I had done for the book, the map page also lists every playground, its location, and its rating. PLUS, it is all in color now.

Now, anybody can download the map even if they didn't buy the book. I don't have some insane registration process to get the download. I just don't know how to code that into the web site and what a logistical pain that would be. 

So with the new colored map, you pretty much have an entire city with all its playgrounds and their ratings in your hands without spending one penny. And that is actually just fine with me. 

BUT - and here's the rub - I am planning to sell those playground brochures (a map and photo of each playground in their city) to their respective park and recreation departments. Well, why would the city want to pay for something that is already free on my site? Darn it.

So I am left with a marketing choice, which always puts the audience at a disadvantage, and had to leave the maps off the downloadable updates. Hopefully, IF the cities buy their brochure then you can download the brochure with the color maps at that point. But in the meantime, you'll have to put your own little stars marking the playground on the maps in the book. Sorry.

Gloucester Addendum

I finally finished the first addendum to the Playground book. Go to the web site:
www.visualvoices.net/publications/update.html

and download the PDF of the updated pages. It includes the write ups for each of the five playgrounds. And best of all, they are all in color!

The playgrouds are:
Babson Playground
Brown's Field
Edward "Gint" Middleton Playground
Ganine Nancy Doucette Playground
Joseph Palazola Playground

Updates coming!

Winter is here and we don't go to as many playgrounds as we use to. BUT I should be working on getting those updated playgrounds into a print format for those people who have purchased Playgrounds of the North Shore.

Well, I have finally started working on them and my editor (wife) is currently going over them and I should have them posted this weekend I hope.

First up will be those five playgrounds I missed in Gloucester:

Babson Playground

Brown's Field

Edward "Gint" Middleton Playground

Ganine Nancy Doucette Playground

Joseph Palazola Playground

Next up will be Action Cove in Newbury and the ONE playground I missed in my own hometown of Salem, Mary Jane Lee Playground.

Another Missing one

AND THIS ONE IN MY HOMEBASE of Salem!!


Mary Jane Playground
This playground is located in the Point Neighborhood on the corner of Prince St. and Palmer St. It's a medium to large. modular playground that has some fun stuff. The only problem is it has a lot of trash strewn about, and some of it glass. There's also vandalism and graffiti on some of the equipment.

There are a lot of nice picnic tables, most of them in the shade, a blacktop, and basketball court. Best of all, a drinking fountain.

The community has been doing a great job with keeping this park in the best condition they can, but it still can use some more help.

Rating: TWO STARS (out of five)

Doucette Playground, Gloucester

This was a huge park located up a hill tucked into a very-Gloucester neighborhood. Huge field in the back, and a small structure. At least it was different than the common Gloucester-style structures we'd seen that day.

Rating: Three stars

Middleton, Gloucester

A small neighborhood playground with the same old Gloucester structure. A bit weedy as you can tell, and the fence cuts right through the basketball court. The playground is up on a hill in Gloucester, I bet in the winter you can see the ocean. . . although it might have some strong winds. Brrrr.

Rating: Two stars.

Browns Field, Gloucester

Brown's Field was nice. But like the four of the five playgrounds we saw that day, Brown's Field used the same structure. . . except this one used different colors at least.

Rating: three stars.

Carrol Savage School, Peabody

This just in the news . . . Carrol Savage Elementary School just broke ground for their new playground due to be complete in the fall of '07. The article said the structure will be "huge."

Coool. I can't wait to see it.

Here's what the old playground looked liked:

Babson, Gloucester

Most of the playgrounds we missed in Gloucester were three stars . . . except this one.

This is it.

Juniper Point Playground, Salem

Juniper Point neighborhood in Salem, MA, has just had a major fundraiser to update their playground. This is not a great playground but it is in a phenomenal location with a small private across the street and has the unique, Salem-style park structure. – a gazebo or shelter sits on a cement patio, along with benches. A woodchip-covered playground is set into the patio by about six inches, which creates clean lines between playground and patio and visually neatens the look of the park.

I can't wait to see the what this great park will be once renovation is complete which is slated for the end of June 2007.


A closer view of the inset playground and gazebo, and the beach across the street.